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Saturday, June 6, 2009

It was sunny, yesterday, for the first time in several days, and cooler than is normal for early June. Rather than hiking up the hill, I walked around town, thinking that I'd do a few minor shopping errands. Instead, I meandered around and looked at things. The backyard of a nearby old house - the one we sometimes call "our house" though we don't live there and probably never will - is a bit overgrown with lots of cheat grass. Two yellow roses bloom on the bush overhanging the shed roof. (Look closely, or enlarge!)

Pink.

Paint.

The wind was strong enough to almost knock me over at times, and blustery clouds came up before I had gone more than two blocks. Semi-wild yellow climbing roses adorn the stairs of an old house. Red climbing roses - an old variety brought west by settlers or miners - are often found growing wild or semi-wild in western towns.

Sign: If You Can Read This, You're In Range. (Watch out, it's Nevada!)

As I meandered around, I more or less followed the old railroad tracks, which lead to the Nevada Northern Railway depot. I don't really know what the tall, cylindrical, concrete thing above is, but it's close to the railroad and looks a lot like a smokestack. I found nothing about it or it's history online, other than one unlabeled photo. (The wide angle setting on the camera distorted the 90° angle where the lower, bridge-like structure meets the tall cylinder.)

A railroad car in front of the "Safety First" building.

Having made it that far, I moseyed over to the only stand-alone espresso shop in town. I had a mocha frappuccino, then a brisk walk back across town into the wind.

I've really enjoyed looking at your photos. I was pleasantly surprised to see your little corner of Nevada looking so green still - I guess the summer hasn't baked everything yet. I usually end up in the West around September/October when everything is pretty scorched!

Julia, glad you're enjoying the photos. It's still spring here. In fact, it's 50F right now (noon), pouring rain, snowing on the high peaks, and a bit breezy (I've got fleece and long johns on!). It's even raining at lower elevations around the state. It is about 5 to 20 degrees F below normal, depending on the day.

With today's rain, it might green-up a little more, or maybe the green will just hold a little longer.

I didn't look that closely at it, weird to think people might be climbing it, or practising rappelling? Either way, I should probably go to the library, or maybe one of the museums knows something about it.